Polish Justice Minister Wants to Boycott IKEA for Firing Homophobic Employee
July 2, 2019Zbigniew Ziobro, Poland’s Justice Minister, has called for a potential boycott of IKEA after the furniture store fired a homophobic employee.
It is alleged the company fired the employee after he posted an anti-LGBT+ message on the company’s intranet.
Ziobrohas launched an official investigation into the firing and has said it would be “unacceptable” and “absolutely scandalous” if true.
The fired employee, identified as Tomasz Kby TVP, has said he posted the comment during an event meant to show the store’s solitary with the LGBT+ community.
“I was shaken up, I’ve been hired to sell furniture but I’m a Catholic and these aren’t my values,” Tomasz said.
I “Last month we celebrated IDAHOT day, International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia,” IKEA said in a statement.
“On this occasion, we published an article on our intranet, presenting our values and position on this issue, in accordance with the communication of the Ingka Group.
“One of our employees published a comment under the article, expressing his opinion in a way that could affect the rights and dignity of LGBT + people.
“In addition, the employee actually used quotes from the Old Testament about death, blood in the context of what fate should meet homosexual people. Many employees raised by this entry contacted our HR department.
“The basis of our corporate culture is freedom of opinion, tolerance and respect for each employee.
“Our human rights and equality policy, supported by our Code of Conduct, addresses in particular non-tolerance for discrimination and exclusionary behaviour.
“We respect people from all religious backgrounds and appreciate the fact that we are different. This does not mean, however, that we support exclusionary behaviour in the name of any other view. IKEA is an open-minded company.”
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